His jaw went rigid. “No one forced you to watch.”
I fought the urge to stomp my foot. “Would you just give me your fucking information?”
He offered no indication whether he wanted me to sit or go to the kitchen like before. His head canted in a silent show of interest. “They’re planning to move on your base near Knoxville in the next few weeks. Warn your people to reinforce.”
I remained quiet, waiting for more, but he gave nothing else. “That’s it? That’s all you got?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “Now I’m going to teach you how to fight.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Wait. What? No.”
“No? You don’t get to say no to me.”
Well, that was a really great way to get me to fight him, the asshole. Miraculously, I held myself back. Not silently, though. “Fuck off, Blood Colonel. That wasn’t the deal.”
He stole the tiniest step toward me, and I took a larger step back.
“I’m adding a requirement to my cooperation.”
“No, I’m not fighting you.”
He hesitated, his colorful gaze examining my resistance with curiosity. “Last week, when I realized how poorly trained you are, you asked if I wanted someone else.”
Prickles woke along my spine. “Yeah, so?”
“If I demanded a new contact, what would Harrison do?”
“He’d find you someone else.”
His eyes narrowed. “And what would he do withyou?”
I started to answer, then paused as I realized I didn’t know what to say. Theo and Williams had been explicit that this assignment with Lucas was top secret. Other than the three of us, no one knew about the traitor Blood Colonel handing over information through me. If Lucas requested someone new, that would make me superfluous. It would mean I knew something I shouldn’t. It would make me a liability.
Theo wouldn’t punish me for that.
Williams, though?
I said nothing, but Lucas seemed to see the answer on my face. He smirked. “You will take my training, or I’ll ask for someone else, and we can both learn how the Defiance deals with information spillage.”
My shoulders fell as I surrendered to his logic. “I don’t like training.”
“It’s more appealing than the activities youimaginedwould happen between us, right?”
“No activity with you sounds appealing, Lucas,” I said, scowling.
His brow raised.
I threw my hands up. “Fine. You’re right. Fighting you is better than fucking you.”
We stared at each other a beat, unmoving.
After several breaths, he finally spoke, his voice like satin over a razor blade. “Remember what I said about thinking before you speak?”
I clenched my teeth so tight they hurt.
“If you challenged any other NSF soldier like that, he’d shove his dick so far down your throat, you’d suffocate.”
A muscle near my eye twitched as I imagined it. “Good thing I have teeth.”
